Until
Nov. 1861, Camp Chase, named for Sec. of the Treasury and former
Ohio governor Salmon P. Chase, was a training camp for Union
volunteers, housing a few political and military prisoners from
Kentucky and western Virginia. Built on the western outskirts of
Columbus, Ohio, the camp received its first large influx of
captured Confederates from western campaigns, including enlisted
men, officers, and a few of the latter's black servants. On oath
of honor, Confederate officers were permitted to wander through
Columbus, register in hotels, and receive gifts of money and food;
a few attended sessions of the state senate. The public paid for
camp tours, and Chase became a tourist attraction. Complaints over
such lax discipline and the camp's state administration provoked
investigation, and the situation changed.

Problems coupled with complaints by citizens about
the absence of military authority at Camp Chase persuaded Colonel Hoffman to send his aide,
Captain H. M. Lazelle, to inspect the three prisons at the camp.
Lazelle's report of July 13, 1862, was filled with disturbing revelations.
He made separate reports about each of the three prisons, beginning with number three, the largest. At this
time, nearly 1100 enlisted men were held there. The men were divided into messes of eighteen
men, who were housed in small buildings, twenty feet by fourteen feet, scattered across the prison grounds in clusters of six. Narrow
alleys separated the clusters.

Lazelle noticed that "all the quarters not
shingled leaked in the freest manner" and that even the barracks
with good roofs tended to leak through the sides because of
"defects" in the boards.18 His major concern about the barracks,
however, was the lack of ventilation. This condition existed because the
foundations of the buildings rested directly on the ground. Water gathered underneath the floorboards when it rained, where it
remained. For these reasons, Lazelle recommended that the floors of
all buildings be elevated at least six inches above the
ground. These inadequate housing conditions were aggravated by the fact
that the prisoners were required to cook their meals in these small
buildings. Lazelle echoed the prisoners' complaints when he noted that the men "are heated to an insufferable extent by the stove,
which in all weathers, drives the prisoners to the boiling sun or rain
to avoid the heat."20 By demanding higher standards for the Confederate prisoners of war, Lazelle demonstrated that the Union army
could be its own worst critic. Read
more about Lazelle's findings.

Food
supplies of poor quality resulted in the commissary officer's
dismissal from service. After an influx of captured officers from
Island No. 10, officers' privileges were cut, then officers were
transferred to the Johnson's Island prison on Lake Erie. The
camp's state volunteers and the camp commander were found to have
"scant acquaintance" with military practice and were
transferred, the camp passing into Federal government control.
Under the new administration, rules were tightened, visitors
prohibited, and mail censored. Prisoners were allowed limited
amounts of money to supplement supplies with purchases from
approved vendors and sutlers, the latter further restricted when
they were discovered to be smuggling liquor to the inmates.

As
the war wore on, conditions became worse. Shoddy barracks, low
muddy ground, open latrines, aboveground open cisterns, and a
brief smallpox outbreak excited U.S. Sanitary Commission agents
who were already demanding reform. Original facilities for
3,500-4,000 men were jammed with close to 7,000. Since parole
strictures prohibited service against the Confederacy, many
Federals had surrendered believing they would be paroled and sent
home. Some parolees, assigned to guard duty at Federal prison
camps, were bitter, and rumors increased of maltreatment of
prisoners at Camp Chase and elsewhere.

Before
the end of hostilities, Union parolee guards were transferred to
service in the Indian Wars, some sewage modifications were made,
and prisoners were put to work improving barracks and facilities.
Prisoner laborers also built larger, stronger fences for their own
confinement, a questionable assignment under international law
governing prisoners of war. Barracks rebuilt for 7,000 soon
overflowed, and crowding and health conditions were never
resolved. As many as 10,000 prisoners were reputedly confined
there by the time of the Confederate surrender.Source:
"Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War

Those who died at Camp Chase.

The first Confederate
prisoners who died at Camp Chase were interred in the City
Cemetery at Columbus, Ohio. Sometime
in the year 1863 a cemetery was established at the prison and the remains
of those soldiers were moved to the new prison cemetery.
Known as Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, over 2,000
Confederate soldiers graves can be found there.

Several years after the Civil War's passing, William H. Knauss, a
Union officer and author of The
Story of Camp Chase, took a personal interest in
marking the graves of Confederate
soldiers who died during the battle at Antietam. Thanks to
his efforts, the first memorial services were held in 1896 and are
still performed every year by The United Daughters of The
Confederacy.

On June 7, 1902 a memorial was placed at Camp Chase Confederate
Cemetery. It is a large arch made of granite blocks with
a large bronze statue of a Confederate soldier on top of it, who
now stands guard over the graves of all who lost their lives at
Camp Chase Prison. Located inside the archway is a large boulder
which bears the inscription: "2260 Confederate Soldiers of the War 1861 - 1865 Buried in
this Enclosure." Beneath the statue, on the front of the arch is one
word that says it all....... "AMERICANS".

In 1906 white
marble headstones were placed on all graves in Camp Chase
Confederate Cemetery. The cemetery, two acres of
land and the honorary memorial are virtually all that is left to tell the story of Camp Chase Prison Camp.

More
interesting reading about Camp Chase Civil War Prison Camp

I rolled myself in my shawl and stretched my weary bones out on the cleanest bunk I
could see and slept untill morning. I awoke early, feeling better, arose,
got some water and washed, but I was so miserably filthy and dirty
haveing worn one suit all this time without washing that it almost made
me sick. I looked round and talked with some of the old Prisoners. I
found we were in prison no. 3. It was an enclosure of about four acres
and contained 69 mess rooms which, with a forced effort, could be made
to bunk 20 men. We formed a mess by order of the Provost, and was put in the next highest number to those filled which was no. 37. I don't
think a much ruffer set of fellows could be found than this was.....read
more about James W. Anderson's imprisonment at Camp Chase.

A well written and well organized
study of Civil War prisons, North and South. The layman will enjoy
the ease of prose and scholars will appreciate the authors
meticulous documentation. A major strength of the book comes from
the many firsthand accounts from prisoners and keepers. It is a
good read from cover to cover plus the organization allows easy
reference to specific prisons and time periods. It contains 32
pages of excellent pictures of the camps and men. ORDER

Experienced historian Bertram Hawthorne
Groene shows you how easy it is to trace your forbearers' role in the
war, where and how long they fought, whether they were Union or Rebel,
soldier or sailor -- even with a minimum of information.ORDER